STARSET_MirrorBlack holes may merge with light of a trillion suns, scientists say
When black holes collide, the ensuing cosmic drama was assumed to play out under the cloak of darkness, given that both objects are invisible. But now astronomers believe they have made the first optical observations of such a merger, marked by a blaze of light a trillion times brighter than the sun.
黑洞是不可见的，他们相撞的宇宙戏剧也在黑暗的外衣下上演。但是现在天文学家相信他们已经对这种合并进行了第一次光学观测：黑洞的碰撞会产生一束比太阳亮一万亿倍的光
The flare was linked to a known black hole merger detected last year by the gravitational wave observatory, Ligo, which picked up ripples sent out through the fabric of space. The latest observations suggest that when these cataclysmic events occur within the accretion disk of an even more gigantic black hole, they are brilliantly illuminated by the surrounding dust and gas, making them also visible to optical telescopes.
这次耀斑与引力波观测站Ligo去年探测到的一个已知的黑洞合并有关，后者收集到了穿过太空结构发出的涟漪。最新的观测表明，当这些灾难性事件发生在一个更大的黑洞的吸积盘中时，它们会被周围的尘埃和气体照亮，从而使光学望远镜也能看到它们。
“This supermassive black hole was burbling along for years before this more abrupt flare,” said Matthew Graham, a research professor of astronomy at the California Institute of Technology and lead author of the work. “We conclude that the flare is likely the result of a black hole merger.”
加州理工学院天文学研究教授、这项工作的主要作者马修·格雷厄姆（Matthew Graham）说：“在这次更为突然的耀斑爆发之前，这个超大质量的黑洞已经运转了好几年了。”。“我们的结论是，耀斑很可能是黑洞合并的结果。”
Read more at The Guardian
翻译：运营人员
